1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to bar code technology, and more particularly, though not exclusively, to a method and apparatus for creating electronic and/or printed documents with tagged bar coded information, capturing and decoding the tagged bar coded information from a variety of video displays and/or printed media, caching the tagged bar coded information, parsing the bar coded data tags, stripping the data tags, and inputting the bar coded information into a variety of applications.
2. Problems in the Art
The explosion of electronic commerce has driven companies to seek new methods and means by which to reach businesses and consumers. While the .COM frenzy has faded, companies continue to view the Internet as an under utilized resource for business. Not only does this raise issues concerning disparate systems, but current methodologies for Internet and Intranet trade require getting connected, costly administrators, and sophisticated fulfillment and processing techniques.
Currently, electronic data interchange (EDI) has a relatively low adoption level, and is limited mainly to large companies. Standards for EDI are still under discussion and are expected to evolve slowly. As a result, users must have applications that can extract data from internal systems, format this data into EDI transaction sets, and partners must be capable of accepting these formats. Accomplishing this generally requires negotiation to determine the level of interaction between the parties exchanging information, security, and issues like timing of communications.
Custom EDI applications use sophisticated computer software such as IBM DB2, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, or other programs, commonly referred to as middleware, in computer to computer data interchange applications. This middleware is expensive and requires a trained computer programmer to establish and maintain the data transfer links. Furthermore, middleware is not flexible. As business trading partners and suppliers change, and/or the format of data storage is modified in a host computer, the service of a trained computer programmer is required to maintain the data interchange capabilities. It is therefore desirable to minimize the amount of middleware software required.
Major retailers such as Sears, Wal-Mart, and Dayton Hudson have all but excluded small suppliers due to their EDI requirements. Small companies not possessing the infrastructure and/or volume to justify EDI investments have been excluded by major companies. This has raised an interesting dilemma for business: whether to allow system constraints to drive business practices or to allow business practices to drive systems.
In addition, many different forms of Extensible Markup Language (XML) are currently used by many firms as a means to format transaction sets. When XML is used to transmit tagged electronic data, systems on both ends of the transaction must support the import and export of XML documents. XML is not a transport mechanism, but rather a formatting tool. Most users would agree that XML is neither easy nor cheap to implement. To use XML efficiently, most software processes will require re-engineering, not simply adding XML to the existing process. In addition, more bandwidth is required to interact with XML-enabled documents.
Many large businesses have positioned themselves to conduct business online, but due to the costs and complexity associated with electronic commerce, their vendors have not been quick to follow. However, given the cost savings benefits of on-line businesses, these companies will be more willing to find new suppliers and trading partners online rather than by traditional means.
During the past decade, acquisitions and mergers have also escalated at a rapid pace as more and more companies posture for a piece of international trade. As economies continue to open, companies will continue to aggressively pursue strategic alliances to capitalize on these opportunities. To date, an overriding consideration in such alliances has been complex conversion and information exchange issues. While the Internet has done much to free the information flow, the compatibility of legacy hardware and software remains paramount.
Video Bar Codes (VBC) were developed as a new method to capture, store, and exchange bar coded information from video displays. Video Bar Codes are described in further detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/753,863, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR BAR CODE DATA INTERCHANGE, to Melick, et al, incorporated herein by reference.
Even though VBCs offer a new business method that utilize the historical benefits of bar codes to address shortcomings associated with digital data, a specific method has not been described for use as a means for “EDI/XML type” transactions.
There is therefore an unfilled need for a method and apparatus which solves these and other problems.